Separator and classifier for placer material, ground ore, and the like.



B. B.-GOODWIN. SEPABATOR AND GLASSIHER FOR PLACER MATERIAL, GROUND ORE, AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 22, 1914- Patented Dec. 29, 1914.

witnesses 'HE NORRIS PETERS CD.. PHOTO-LITHQ. WASHINGTON n liTED ans ra rnn'ir ora ion EDWIN B. GOODWIN, OF BGULDEB, COLORADU.

SEPARATOR AND CLASSIFIEB- FOB PLACER MAJEELEZIAL, GROUND ORE, AND THE LIKE.

Application filed April 22, 191.4.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN B. Gooowizv, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boulder, in the county of Boulder and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Separators and Classifiers for Placer Material, Ground Ore, and the like; and i do hereby declare the following to be a. full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to separating devices for placer material, ground ore andthe like and particularly to those devices of the class described in which the separation is accomplished largely by gravitation, and has for an object to provide, in such a device, improved means for agitating the ma terial being worked.

Another object is to provide improved means for holding the heavier materials, after separation, from thereafter moving to the point of discharge of the lighter material and there again mixing and discharging with the lighter materials.

With these and other objects in view the invention comprises certain novel construction, combination and arrangements ofparts as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed and as shown in the accompanying drawings in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views and in which- Figure I, is a side view of my separator and classifier the lower portion of the barrel being cut away to expose the inside parts to view. Fig. H, is an end elevation of my separator and classifier with a quarter cut away as in Fig. I. Fig. III, is a view of the central shaft partly in section and partly in elevationor plan. Fig. IV, is an elevation view of a fragment of the shaft showing plow arms and plow attached thereto and at position depending therefrom. Fig. V, is a view of the fragment and parts shown in Fig. IV, looking down upon the same from above the shaft. V1, is an end view of the fragment and parts shown at Fig. IV.

In the matter of separation of minerals in a mass by gravitation the main idea is the removal of all impediments to the natural tendency of the heavier particles to drop ,to the bottom of the mass. The pressure of adjacent particles of lighter material is the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 29, rare.

Serial No. 333,783.

primary impediment. Water is a material and in making such a separation but, when used in ordinary manner, it forms in a stream flowing over the surface of the mate rial being worked and carries with it much of the valuable mineral which consists of very fine particlesthe water, as to these finer particles, thus overcoming he attraction of gravitation. This is the secondary impediment. To overcome these impediments and give the attraction of gravitation an opportunity to act freely and effectively upon all of the ieavier material in the masswhether in larger or smaller particlesis my purpose in this invention. 1 accomplish this purpose by providing a conical barrel 1 mounted as by arms 2 and 3 upon a central shaft-l which. in turn, is revolubly mounted in trunnioned bearings and 6 mounted in supports 7 and 8 as at 9 and 10 to permit the raising or lowering of either bearing so as to give the desired slant or incline to the central shaft l and to the barrel 1.

On the inside of the barrel 1, and secured thereto in any ordinary manner as by rivets 152, it provide a spiral riflie 11 preferably inclined toward the smaller end of the barrel as clearly shown at Fig.1. It will be understood that the spiral may be single or multiple as desired, the principle and method of operation being the same in either case.

Between the turns of the ril'lle 11 I provide pins 13 preferably set in strips 1% attached in any ordinary manner to the barrel 1. In my drawing I show but three strips 14-. To show more would unnecessarily complicate the drawing, but it will be understood that strips l-lwith pins 13 may be placed at any desired inter als in the space between the turns of the riflle 11.

The larger end of the barrel is partly closed by a ring 15 standing in a plane at right angles to its axis. and the inner edge of the ring has a flange 16 projecting into the barrel at right angles from the ring. Near the smaller en d of the barrel I provide it with an internal flange 17 standing at right angles to its axis, and the inner edge of this flange is continued into a secondary flange 18 proiecting obliquely from the flange 17 toward the smaller end of the barrel. As seen in Fig. 11 the inner diameter of the secondary flange is smaller than the small end 30 of the barrel.

In the portion 19 of the barrel 1 between barrel, agitating points are provided similar to pins 13 but preferably smaller. But one set is shown in the drawing. As many as desired may be used.

The shaft at is tubular and provided at one end with suitable connection as 21 for provided, at as frequent intervals as de- 1 sired and generally following the space between the turns of the spiral riflle 11 (three only being shown in the drawing), carried by arms 2 1 attached to shaft 4 as by clamps 25. It is desirable to set the plows at an angle as to shaft 4 as clearly shown at Figs. 1-. and V. and indicated at Figs. IV. and'VI. and this is accomplished by twisting the arms 24.; between the clamps and the plows, so that the two arms carrying a single plow will diverge from each other asthey project from the shaft. Thus, by causing the arms 2 1 to diverge more or less, any desired angle or slant may be given to the plows. The plows are further adjustable in' that their distance from the sides of the barrel 1 may be changed and fixed as desired by providing a plurality of holes '26 in the arms 2t so that the plows 23 may be bolted to the arms 24: at any desired height. Any suitable meansas chute 27 may be provided for supplying the material to be worked. Any ordinary means may be provided upon shaftv t at any suitable point thereon as at 28 for connecting the same with power for revolving the shaft and barrel carried thereby.

In operation the material to be worked is supplied through chute 27 to the inside of the barrel 1 while the same is being slowly revolved by means of the power applied to shaft t as above mentioned. Atthe same time water is supplied to shaft 1 as described and thus the inside of the barrel is subjected to a spray of water through the holes i Placer material or ground ore, being mobile, naturally follows the incline of the lower side of the barrel 1 and fills the lower portion of the barrel up to the point of overflow 29 at the inner edge of'the ring 15 which is here shown as being coincident with the flange 16 though flange 16 may be positioned at any desired height upon the-ring 15. As the material passes from the point of supply at chute 27 to the overflow 29-the action of the water and the natural mobility of the material keep. it' at the lower side of the barrel 1 but as the barrel revolves the pins 13 carried by the barrel are constantly passed through the mass thus thoroughly agitating it. In this connection it will be apparent that immediately in the wake of each pin 18 as it thus passes through the mass will be a space relieved from the pressure of the mass into which space the particles will fall from the surrounding mass and in falling the heavier particles displace the lighter and assume a lower position than the lighter. In addition to this particular action of the pins 13 upon the mass, their passage through the mass stirs and agitates the entire mass thus further assistingin the settling of the heavier particles to the bottom of the mass in the ordinary manner of agitation in all operations of this nature which is so well and generally known as to need no specific descripthrough and turn over and agitate the top portion of the, mass keeping it thoroughly mixed and saturated with the water. Also,

it will be noted that the top portion of the interrupt the water which would otherwise flow in a stream over thesurface of the material and will constantly mix the water with the material thus preventing the carrying off by astream of water of that part of the gold or other values which is in very fine particles, in which manner much of the values are lost in ordinary operations of this class. I r

When the heavier particles have been settled to the bottom of the mass, as above described, they naturally tend to follow down the incline to the large end of the barrel but are caught in rilfle 11, and, as

.the barrel revolves in the direction indicated by the arrow, the raffle acts as a worm or l screw conveyer and forces the heavy material above it, up the incline until it reaches flange 17 over which it is forced, dropping into the chamber .19. It will be noted that in order that the rifile may force the material over flange 17, the rifile must be higher than the flange otherwise the ma terial would flow down over the rifl'le instead of up over flange 17. On the other hand the water and lighter material rising to the surface of the mass are overflow 29.

The flange 16 prevents the overflow and waste of any of the heavier material which might be forced up along ring 15 by the carried off over the pressure of the material behind it along the 20 will agitate this mass and thespray from shaft 4 will wash it and the gold, being heavier, will settle down next flange 17 while the black sand and water will flow off at the small end of the barrel as at 30.

The flange 18 holds the gold against rising and flowing back over flange 17, which might otherwise result from the pressure of other gold and heavy material behind it along the lower side of the barrel from flange 17 to the overflow 30. The flanges 17 and 18 thus form a pocket in which the gold or other metal to be recovered is finally collected.

What I claim is:

1. A separator body consisting of a conical barrel having its larger end partly closed by a ring standing in a plane at right angles to its axis, and a flangeprojecting into the barrel from the inner edge of said ring, said barrel having an annular pocket formed at its smaller end by a flange projecting inward from its body and standing in a plane at right angles to its axis, and a secondary flange projecting from the inner edge of the first-named flange obliquely toward the smaller end of the barrel.

2. In a separator, a body consisting of a conical barrel having its larger end partly closed by a ring in a plane at right angles to its axis, and a flange projecting into the barrel from the inner edge of said ring, said barrel having an annular pocket formed at its smaller end by a flange projecting straight inward from its body and standing in a plane at right angles to its axis and a secondary flange projecting from the inner edge of the first-named flange obliquely toward the smaller end of the barrel; combined with a shaft on which said barrel is mounted, a spiral riffle secured to the inner face of the barrel for feeding the heavier material toward the smaller end thereof, means for admitting water for washing the lighter material through the ring at the larger end of the barrel, and agitating devices between the turns of said riflie.

3. In a separator, a body consisting of a conical barrel having its larger end partly closed by a ring standing in a plane at right angles to its axis, and a flange projecting into the barrel from the inner edge of said ring, said barrel having an annular pocket formed at its smaller end by a flangepro- .jecting straight inward from its body and standing in a plane at right angles to its axis, and a secondary flange projecting from the inner edge of the first-named flange obliquely toward the smaller end of the barrel; combined with a shaft on which said barrel is mounted, a spiral riille secured to the inner face of the barrel for feeding the heavier material toward the smaller end thereof, means for admitting water for washing the lighter material through the ring at the larger end of the barrel, strips disposed longitudinally within the body of the barrel between the turns of the riflle, pins in said strips projecting toward said shaft, radial arms adjustably mounted on the latter, and obliquely disposed plows carried by the arms near said ring, the plows standing in position to clear the inner ends of said ins. p 4:. In a separator of the class described, the combination with a conical barrel having a ring partly closing its larger end and a pocket for the values at its smaller end, a shaft through the axis of said barrel and on which the latter is mounted, and a spiral riflie within the barrel; of strips disposed longitudinally within the body of the barrel between the turns of the riilie, pins in said strips projecting toward said shaft, radial arms adjustably mounted on the latter, and obliquely disposed plows carried by the arms near said ring, the plows standing in position to clear the inner ends of said pins.

5. In a separator of the class described. a conical barrel mounted upon a hollow shaft, spraying means carried by said shaft, a spiral riffle within said barrel, agitating means carried upon the inner face of said barrel, arms disposed in pairs and clamped at their inner ends to said shaft, their bodies being twisted, and a plow carried by the outer ends of each pair of arms and standing between the turns of the riffle.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDIVIN B. GOODWIN.

Witnesses:

CARLE WHITEHEAD, GEORGE A. CHASE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five eents each. by addressing the Commissioner of IE'atents, Washington, D. C." 

